2  ^y“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

3  ^zIs it any pleasure to the Almighty if ^ayou are in the right,

or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

4  Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you

and enters into judgment with you?

5  Is not your evil abundant?

There is no end to your iniquities.

6  For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

and stripped the naked of their clothing.

7  ^bYou have given no water to the weary to drink,

and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

8  The man with power possessed the land,

and the favored man lived in it.

9  You have sent ^cwidows away empty,

and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

10  Therefore snares are all around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

11  or darkness, so that you cannot see,

and ^da flood of water covers you.

12  “Is not God ^ehigh in the heavens?

See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

13  But you say, ^f‘What does God know?

Can he judge through the ^gdeep darkness?